Extensive Menu Choices

Next to the movie theatres at Mayfaire on Military Cutoff Road you’ll find City Tavern, which offers a very extensive menu for both lunch and dinner. If you’re in a group where no one can decide what kind of food they want, City Tavern is the place to go. Feel like a buffalo burger? They’ve got it. How about pasta with sun dried tomatoes, artichokes and capers? They’ve got it. They also serve steaks, pork, a variety of salads, seafood, and just about anything else you might have a hankering for. The bar at City Tavern is open daily until 2 a.m. Food is served from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 11 to 11 on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday brunch is served from 11:30 to 3 and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 with regular food service until 10. City Tavern has a large wine list, a full bar and offers daily drink specials.

The King’s Table is set in the stone castle at Castle Bay Country Club, located down Hoover Road off Highway 17, an easy 15-minute drive from Porters Necks and Figure 8 Island. King’s Table is by far Hampstead’s best restaurant and serves steaks, carefully char-grilled as ordered, as well as seafood and pasta at very moderate prices. For example, as this is written, spaghetti and meatballs is on the menu for $10.

The Grille menu is available for lunch on Tuesday through Sunday as well as during the evenings the restaurant is open. Such staples as delicious handmade hamburgers with good fries or onion rings, an excellent chef’s salad and a BLT on delicious whole grain bread are on the Grille menu. Dinner is served Wednesday through Saturday from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. Bottles of wine are a bargain at King’s Table where there is a full bar and a patio overlooking the golf course.

In the Heritage Square shopping plaza on the approach to the swing bridge to Surf City on Topsail Island is Quartermasters Restaurant & Tavern, which offers a non-smoking restaurant as well as a tavern where smokers are welcome. The extensive menu at Quartermasters includes items such as crab dip appetizers, seafood platters of all types and combinations, and Skully’s Dirty Chicken, a popular dish they developed in their former restaurant in Topsail Beach. The tavern opens daily at 4 while the dining room opens at 5.